On October 22nd, a group of 50 reporters from Jeollanam-do, South Korea, visited the site of the Japan-Korea Tunnel Karatsu-Nagoya Incline Shaft.
A delegation of 39 members from the Korean media industry visited in August this year, interacted with Japanese experts in Tokyo, and returned home feeling a sense of progress. This time, the group also visited the front lines of news reporting in South Jeolla Province in southwestern South Korea.
After watching a DVD made mainly from footage of a site inspection and broadcast by the Korean television station MBC five years ago, the tour gave a brief overview of the Japan-Korea Tunnel. During the question and answer session that followed, opinions included, "Japan has experienced major earthquakes, so will the Japan-Korea Tunnel be safe?", "Why isn't Dokdo shown on the map in front?", and "Tsushima is Japanese territory, so why not build a tunnel to Tsushima first? The Japan-Korea Tunnel can be discussed after that." Given the growing interest in the Japan-Korea Tunnel in South Korea, it seemed that the tour participants came with a fair amount of prior knowledge.
After this, we went into the inclined shaft in three carts and went up to the tunnel face to see the progress of the tunnel. The newly built information board for Koreans had explanations in Hangul, which seemed to make it easier for them to get an idea of what was going on.
[Photo] An enthusiastic Q&A session took place
[Photo] At the entrance before entering the inclined shaft
